Research on AEC Workforce Development Cites the Benefits of Envision

A valuable role in integrating ESG principles into engineering education.

Integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) into organizational practice creates value for a wide range of stakeholders and impacted groups — and requires academic programs to prepare graduates with the relevant skills, knowledge, and abilities.

While there is no one-size-fits-all formula for strengthening ties between educators and professionals to ensure graduates are prepared technically, socially, and ethically, a forthcoming article shines a light on those strategic partnerships and opportunities to embed ESG principles into engineering education.

Using policies and practices from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and accreditation requirements from the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, the article in the Journal of Engineering Management provides an illustrative case study illuminating some opportunities related to advancing ESG in the AEC industry through collaborative engineering education and practice.

To provide a specific illustration of how their study can be applied, the authors created an inland navigation example connecting ABET requirements to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. The authors build on prior work by introducing the Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Framework as a tool and using credits associated with the Climate and Resilience (CR) category.

Professor Yvette Pearson of the University of Texas Dallas and her colleagues write that educators can apply tools such as the Envision framework to teach sustainable and inclusive design practices. These collaborations can be integrated into both curricular and cocurricular activities, enhancing students’ awareness and ability to tackle complex ESG-related issues.

To access this article, published in the Journal of Engineering Management, Vol 41, Issue 4 (July 2025), visit: https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/JMENEA.MEENG-6566

 

 

The Power of Economic Analysis in Building Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructure

By ISI Guest Author:
Eric Bill, Autocase, President & Chief Economist

In the face of intensifying climate risks, rising infrastructure costs, and now — significant pullbacks in federal support under the current U.S. administration — cities, agencies, and public asset owners are being asked to do more with less. Meanwhile, macroeconomic shifts in jurisdictions like Germany and the EU are driving massive infrastructure investment as fiscal stimulus. In both cases, a powerful but underutilized tool is emerging as essential: economic analysis.

From life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) to benefit-cost analysis (BCA) and triple bottom line (TBL) assessments, economic evaluation is becoming indispensable for planning, justifying, and optimizing resilient and sustainable infrastructure. This article explores why economic analysis matters more than ever, how the federal policy landscape is shifting, how the Envision Rating System promotes best practices in valuation (notably through credit LD3.3), and how firms like ours at Autocase Economic Advisory are helping infrastructure stakeholders raise the bar.

Why Economic Analysis Matters for Infrastructure in 2025

Historically, infrastructure planning has prioritized lowest first cost. But with today’s aging assets, climate vulnerabilities, and tightening budgets, short-term thinking can result in long-term costs or missed opportunities.

Economic analysis offers a more complete view, accounting for:

    • Full life cycle costs (CAPEX + OPEX + end-of-life),
    • Risks from climate hazards and operational disruptions,
    • Co-benefits such as public health, equity, and emissions reduction,
    • Avoided costs from resilience dividends (e.g., flood damage mitigation or avoided service outages).

This broader lens enables better decisions. Cities and agencies can compare options, prioritize limited funding, and communicate long-term value to stakeholders ranging from engineers to elected officials and communities.

 

Federal Headwinds: Reduced Support for Resilience and Sustainability

Recent federal proposals — particularly the 2025 budget from the Trump administration — signal cuts to cornerstone sustainability programs, including:

    • EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which supported local decarbonization efforts,
    • HUD’s Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR),
    • FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program,
    • DOT’s RAISE and INFRA grants for multimodal transportation.

While these cuts are framed as cost-saving, the message to state and local governments is clear: federal funding will be harder to secure.

This makes economic justification critical. Project teams will need to clearly demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) of resilience and sustainability measures. That’s where economic analysis plays a vital role.

 

Envision’s LD3.3 Credit: Elevating Lifecycle Economics

The Envision Rating System — developed by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI)—is a leading framework for evaluating sustainable infrastructure. Among its most impactful, yet underutilized, tools is LD3.3: Conduct a Life-Cycle Economic Evaluation.

This credit encourages project teams to:

    • Move beyond first-cost thinking,
    • Apply LCCA and BCA to assess whole-of-life performance,
    • Incorporate non-market benefits (e.g., avoided emissions, health outcomes, and equity),
    • Integrate resilience dividends into infrastructure valuation.

LD3.3 recognizes that sustainability and resilience are not just environmental or social imperatives—they’re economic imperatives. Projects that cost more upfront may deliver significantly higher value over time. Think: elevating substations to reduce flood risk, integrating green infrastructure to cut stormwater costs, or specifying low-energy systems to reduce operational expenses.

Miami-Dade County Dolphin Station Park-and-Ride Transit Terminal Facility (Envision Verified, 2021)

For example, the Miami-Dade County Dolphin Station Park-and-Ride Transit Terminal Facility earned Envision Verified recognition for its innovative approach to multimodal access, lifecycle planning, and user benefit quantification—including health and emissions outcomes.

We are also supporting the ongoing West Field Utility project at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), where our team is applying LD3.3 to evaluate long-term trade-offs across design alternatives, including resilience dividends, operational cost savings, and decarbonization potential.

Especially as funding tightens, LD3.3 is more than a checkbox — it’s a strategic tool for maximizing value, accessing grants, and future-proofing infrastructure design.

 

Empowering Smarter Infrastructure Decisions

Our firm operates at the intersection of infrastructure and real estate planning — supporting architects, engineers, and planners in designing and delivering more resilient, sustainable, and cost-effective capital projects.

Through both software and advisory services, we help clients:

    • Quantify value at risk from hazards like sea-level rise or extreme heat,
    • Estimate co-benefits like air quality, health improvements, and social equity,
    • Compare alternatives using defensible cost-benefit methods,
    • Align with federal evaluation criteria (e.g., FEMA, DOT, HUD).

To date, we’ve supported more than $150 billion in capital planning across airports, utilities, cities, universities, and the private sector — helping stakeholders answer questions like:

    • Which design delivers the greatest resilience return?
    • How can we prioritize green infrastructure features?
    • What data builds a stronger business case to decision-makers and funders?

 

The Long View: Making Every Dollar Count

Infrastructure assets often last 30 to 100 years, yet the financial decisions that shape them are frequently made on a much shorter time horizon — typically 3 to 5 years.

By applying tools such as:

    • Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) to evaluate the total cost of ownership over the asset’s lifespan,
    • Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) to quantify and compare the net economic, social, and environmental value of project alternatives,
    • Triple Bottom Line (TBL) analysis to integrate equity, health, and environmental co-benefits into economic decision-making,

…project teams can avoid “penny wise, pound foolish” decisions and deliver infrastructure that is durable, efficient, and aligned with long-term public goals. These methods also support:

    • Clearer “value-for-money” metrics for funding agencies,
    • Public-private partnership (P3) decisions by attributing outcomes to stakeholders,
    • Integrated planning across energy, water, mobility, and land use systems.

To help planners, designers, and decision-makers apply these methods with confidence, we’ve developed continuing education programs on economic and business case analysis for leading industry platforms, including:

Thousands of professionals have completed these courses — gaining practical skills to assess sustainable alternatives, justify resilient strategies, and drive better project outcomes.

 

Turning Constraints into Opportunity

While current policy headwinds may feel like a setback, they also present an opportunity: to strengthen the case for sustainability with better data and better tools.

Economic analysis isn’t just about spreadsheets — it’s about strategy. It enables agencies and developers to:

    • Win in competitive grant environments,
    • Build defensible business cases for resilient investments,
    • Prioritize the solutions that maximize long-term public value,
    • Design infrastructure that is smart, equitable, and future-ready.

In an era where every dollar counts, economic analysis bridges the gap between bold engineering vision and fiscal reality. With the right frameworks — like Envision’s LD3.3 credit — we can build infrastructure that lasts and maximizes value to cities and stakeholders.

 


Eric Bill is the President and Chief Economist of Autocase and leads the infrastructure and real estate research and economics advisory team and SaaS business. Eric has extensive experience leveraging economic concepts to incorporate climate adaptation, sustainability, and resilience into capital project decision making and policy development and has worked on over $100B of projects globally for corporations, utilities, investors, developers, non-profits, and all levels of government.  He has written economics and business case credits for LEED, Envision, and RELi resilience rating systems and has developed continuing education economics and business case credit training programs for the US Green Building Council (USGBC), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI).

Celebrating Drinking Water Week  

The Clearwell 9 Replacement Project in Evanston, Illinois transformed a parking lot into green space with access to beaches and views of Lake Michigan.

During Drinking Water Week (May 4–10), ISI recognizes the paramount importance of ensuring universal access to safe and reliable drinking water and the work of water professionals in supporting that effort. We would like to take this opportunity to highlight the following Envision-awarded projects that furthered the goals of sustainable water infrastructure in cities and communities from coast to coast. 

The City of Santa Monica Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (Envision Platinum, 2024) in Santa Monica, California is an advanced treatment water recycling plant that treats the city’s municipal wastewater, stormwater (wet-weather), and urban runoff (dry-weather) with the new stormwater harvesting tank. The project reduces the city’s traditional reliance on costly imported freshwater resources from Northern California and the Colorado River by creating new, local water supplies. 

The Clearwell 9 Replacement Project in Evanston, Illinois (Envision Verified, 2022) included the replacement of a five-million gallon treated water storage reservoir with a new similarly sized facility, a new overflow, a new submersible pumping system, and site piping modifications. An existing parking lot was transformed into new green space for bikers and walkers as part of the project, allowing them to enjoy the view of Lake Michigan and providing better access to the beach. 

Denver Water’s Northwater Treatment Plant in Denver, Colorado (Envision Gold, 2020) is a 75-million gallon per day state-of-the-art facility supplementing Denver Water’s Moffat Water Treatment Plant. The project makes it possible to extend Moffat’s useful life for two more decades while giving additional operational flexibility to Denver Water, with four drinking water treatment plants instead of three. 

Treating and filtering water from the Saco River in Biddeford, Maine.

The Ion Exchange Resin Plant and East Water Treatment Plant Improvements Project (Envision Bronze, 2017) located in Boynton Beach, Florida involved upgrades to an existing plant. The project met the community’s need to diversify water sources to reduce dependence on the surficial aquifer. This project also focused on protecting the local environment and drinking water supply by avoiding saltwater intrusion. 

The Line J Section 1 Pipeline Project located in Tarrant, Texas and led by Tarrant Regional Water District (Envision Silver, 2014) was a two-mile, 108-inch diameter pipeline built to deliver water from the Kennedale Balancing Reservoir directly to the Arlington Outlet. The project improved the net quality of life for many of the communities served by the water district by increasing their ability to transfer raw water to 1.9 million users. This infrastructure owner also undertook the Integrated Pipeline Project (Envision Platinum, 2016), a 150-mile long water transmission system built by two North Texas water suppliers to help meet water demands in rapidly growing Tarrant, Dallas and surrounding counties. 

The Saco River Water Treatment Plant in Biddeford, Maine (Envision Silver, 2022) treats and filters water from the Saco River so that 40,000 people in Biddeford as well as two nearby communities have a reliable supply of high-quality drinking water. Sustainability achievements included wetland restoration and protection of groundwater resources, an emphasis on flood-resilience, and new onsite power generation through a photovoltaic solar array. 

The Seneca Water Treatment Plant Improvements Project (Envision Silver, 2017) in Seneca, South Carolina focused on upgrades to a vital facility to improve efficiency and safety for plant employees and the surrounding community. Sustainability achievements included measures to reduce operational noise, aesthetic features to preserve the local character of the community, and improvements to the safety of the facility for workers and residents in the area.  

Tualatin Valley Water District’s (TVWD) Ridgewood View Park Reservoir and Pump Station in Tualatin Valley, Oregon (Envision Gold, 2016) was the first joint water storage reservoir and park facility to receive an Envision award from ISI . The project included 6,700 feet of new water pipelines and extensive improvements to Ridgewood View Park. 

Vivion Transmission Main – Chouteau to Brighton in Kansas City, Missouri (Envision Bronze, 2019) involved construction of a 10,000-foot 36-inch water transmission main through city park property. The pipeline was designed and built to align with a future recreational trail of the KCMO Parks & Recreation Department and the Public Works Department.  

Find all water related projects in our Project Awards Directory.

 

95 Express Lanes Project Earns Envision Silver

Opened to traffic in August of 2023, the 95/395 Express Lanes Project became the longest reversible road in the United States.Read more